Mohamed elected Opposition Leader

Jan 27, 2026 News

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…as APNU stages walkout

By Renay Sambach

(Kaieteur News) – Leader of We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) Azruddin Mohamed was on Monday elected as Guyana’s new Leader of the Opposition, securing 17 votes in a process that lasted less than five minutes.

The meeting, summoned by Speaker of the National Assembly Manzoor Nadir, was held at the Parliament Building with opposition Members of Parliament from WIN, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Forward Guyana Movement (FGM). While APNU’s 12 MPs attended, they later walked out of the chamber, leaving WIN’s 16 MPs and FGM’s sole MP, Amanza Walton-Desir, to proceed with the election.

The 13th Parliament of Guyana was convened on November 2, 2025. Under Guyana’s Constitution, the Leader of the Opposition is elected by a majority of non-government MPs.  According to a recording of the proceedings shared with this publication, Mohamed was the only nominee.  WIN’s 16 MPs voted, as well as Walton-Desir.

“I take this opportunity to warmly congratulate, the honourable member Mr. Azruddin Mohamed for being duly elected as leader of the opposition,” Speaker Nadir said at the end of the election. Speaking with reporters outside the Parliament Building after his election, Mohamed described the process as seamless. “This morning the process was very smooth. No hiccups, no delay. In less than five minutes I was elected leader of the opposition ready to serve the people of this country. I would like to thank all my supporters…we had a long fight, we make it to the end,” he said.

On future relations with APNU despite their walkout, Mohamed said, “Yes once it’s for the interest, to benefit the people.” “We will scrutinise the budget and then I will make my pronouncements but I hope the budget is primarily to serve the people and not just a select few…We are going to press hard to stamp out corruption. Corruption is a major issue in this country and that is why the PPP government is afraid of me because they know that they cannot buy me…” Mohamed said in response to a series of questions on his parliamentary agenda and his relations with APNU.

Mohamed also addressed questions about whether his new role provides any insulation from ongoing extradition proceedings involving himself and his father, businessman Nazar “Shell” Mohamed, following a 2024 United States sanction and their recent indictment. “No. I don’t have immunity for that,” Mohamed said.

Further, he thanked Walton-Desir for her vote and added, “We will ensure that we put her on some of the parliamentary committees since she didn’t get the amount of votes to be on the committee.  For instances PAC, the Public Accounts Committee, you’d need five from PPP, two from WIN, two from APNU so they would select their two. But Amanza she didn’t get any of the seats so we will name her in some of the parliamentary committees.”

Mohamed flanked by his MPs was welcomed with cheers from his party supporters who gathered in their numbers across from Parliament Building behind barricades. For her part, Walton-Desir made similar sentiments that the process went smoothly and only lasted a few minutes. “It was five minutes, and that was it. The process was smooth. Nominations were open. Mr. Azruddin Mohamed was nominated. The nominations were closed. APNU walked out before the vote, but the 17 remaining MPs voted,” she said.

She explained that the process should not have attracted all the controversy that was seen over the past few months. “I keep saying, this is a very rudimentary run of the mill process, not deserving of a lot of the drama that we’ve seen,” Walton-Desir said.

When asked why she voted, Walton-Desir noted that it is her constitutional duty. She further stated, “Understand that for a candidate to enter into elections, their requirements, if a candidate meets those requirements and they’re allowed to contest in an election and the people vote in a particular way, then who are we to ignore how the people have voted.”  The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) received a total of 242,498 votes at the 2025 General Elections securing its reelection, while newcomer WIN received 109,066 votes ahead of APNU 77, 998, and FGM with 4326.

As it relates to APNU, the party’s lead MP Dr. Terrence Campbell reiterated that the party walked out because there was only one nomination and, in their view, their vote was not required. The party has contended that given that WIN holds the majority of the opposition bloc, there was no need to vote. “There was one nomination for the position of leader of the opposition. Nominations were closed, and as we had said, there is no need for votes. So, we have left the assembly,” Campbell said.

Notwithstanding the party’s decision to walk out, Campbell expressed hope for improved collaboration with WIN, going forward. “We look forward to working with WIN and hope that there’ll be improvement in collaboration between us and WIN going forward. It has not been the best road so far, but we took the position not to nominate anyone, and we hope they see this as a signal, and we expect an improvement.”

The election took place amid controversy over restricted media access to Parliament Building. Only the technical team of the state-owned National Communications Network (NCN) was allowed physical access to the parliament compound and chambers.

When questioned by members of the media, Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs said he could not explain why media were barred from the compound.

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• APNU, Azruddin Mohamed, Leader of the Opposition, We Invest in Nationhood

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